UK

The U.K. prides itself on its commitment to free expression, but the latest revelations of surveillance of journalists and calls by Britain's Prime Minister, David Cameron, to ban secure messaging belie the country's drift toward a more restrictive environment for the press. The revelations further underscore the threat surveillance by Western democracies poses to journalism, a threat that prompted the Committee to Protect Journalists' Right to Report in the Digital Age campaign.

The British government's attempt to rush through a bill on data retention before the House of Commons summer recess next week has run into opposition--not from members across the aisle but from Internet companies, civil liberty defenders, and lawyers, who say the law would extend the authorities' already vast snooping capabilities.

A new document on freedom
of expression and opinion, adopted May 12 by the 28 foreign ministers of the
European Union, presses nearly all the right buttons. Drawing its inspiration
from international human rights norms as well as from the EU's treaties and its
charter of fundamental rights, the document reaffirms the role of freedom of
opinion and expression as "an essential foundation for democracy, rule of law,
peace, stability, sustainable inclusive development, and participation in
public affairs." It also makes a strong case for free and independent
journalism. The ministers committed the EU and member states to the defense of
journalists' freedom and safety, and endorsed watchdog journalism as a decisive
factor in "uncovering abuses of power, shining a light on corruption, and
questioning received opinion."

Each year, members of the Global Coordinating Committee of
Press Freedom Organizations gather to discuss threats to journalists around the
world and plan action. Usually, we focus on frontline countries where
journalists face life and death issues. But as our annual meeting took place in
London this year, we couldn't help but notice the emerging threats to press
freedom in the United
Kingdom, which range from pressure
applied to the Guardian in
response to its reporting on the Snowden leaks to the royal charter that seeks
to impose ethical
standards on the print media in the aftermath
of the phone hacking scandal.

Today, a broad coalition of technology
companies, human rights organizations, political groups, and others will take to
the Web and to the streets
to protest mass surveillance. The mobilization, known as "The Day We Fight
Back," honors activist and technologist Aaron
Swartz, who passed away just over a year ago. Throughout the day, the
campaign will encourage individuals to contact their representatives, pressure
their employers, and march for an end to government surveillance practices that
sweep up huge amounts of data, often indiscriminately.

A prime minister says a newspaper has damaged national security and calls for its editor to be brought before Parliament; his government tells the same paper there has been "enough" debate on an issue and sends its security officials into the paper's offices to smash discs containing journalistic material; lawmakers call for the editor's prosecution and accuse the paper of treason; the paper is forced to spirit its stories out of the country to ensure publication overseas.

It is an extraordinarily difficult time to be a journalist.
Nearly every month, the digital security landscape shifts--new surveillance
concerns are unearthed and freshly drafted laws are introduced that seek to
curb freedom of expression under the guise of national security.

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As Alan Rusbridger appears
Tuesday before the Home Affairs committee of the U.K. Parliament to give
evidence regarding the Guardian's
coverage of surveillance activities by the U.S. and U.K. governments, British
journalists and analysts say that newspaper's legal troubles are worrying in
large part because they come against the backdrop of increased regulation and
scrutiny of the wider industry.

Glenn Greenwald would like to go home to the United States,
at least for a visit. But the Guardian
journalist and blogger is afraid to do so. He still has material and
unpublished stories from his contacts with fugitive whistleblower Edward
Snowden that he believes U.S. authorities would love to get their hands on.
The nine-hour detention
and interrogation of Greenwald's Brazilian partner David Miranda by British security
services at London's Heathrow airport in August has only compounded his fears.

One way for journalists to build more secure newsrooms and safer networks would be for more of them to learn and practice digital hygiene and information security. But that's not enough. We also need journalists to stand together across borders, not just as an industry, but as a community, against government surveillance.

The Obama administration, in its attempt to control government leaks, has issued subpoenas and conducted unprecedented surveillance of journalists, as CPJ documented in a report this week. But the United States is hardly the only democratic nation that has been trying to unveil reporters' sources and other professional secrets.